The Mistake
by pink-seafoam-and-sparkles
Summary: Thalia visits Annabeth and Percy at Olympus, while Carter mistakes a hunter for Zia. -CHAPTER 2: At Annabeth's chorus concert she sees someone who might or might not be Thalia.-
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Spoilers for The Last Olympian, The Red Pyramid, and even a little Lost Hero spoilers thrown in as well :). Thanks to Mistflyer1102 for beta-ing this story, it took a lot of time and effort (on both of our parts) Enjoy!**

"Percy, come _on_!" Annabeth was tugging on her boyfriend of five months' arm, trying to get him to move. Aphrodite's second favorite couple since Helen and Paris (Silena and Beckendorf being the first) were going to Olympus to make some final check-ups on the part dedicated to Poseidon. Annabeth was designing Olympus in cabin order (Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Demeter, Ares, Athena...) and wanted to get to her mom during February, March by the latest.

"Coming, coming" Percy consoled her, laughing. They walked to Paul's Pruis and got in, Percy's foot on the accelerator the whole time. He had learned from experience that the gods didn't enjoy people being late (they were lucky Athena was there to stop Hera from smiting them that one time.) Percy sighed in relief when he found a parking spot a minute later. They had gotten there in time! "Is that fast enough for you, Wise Girl?" he asked playfully.

"Yep" Annabeth replied, kissing Percy on the cheek before turning to open her car door. Percy got out too, and together they went into the elevator that brought them to Olympus, the home of the gods. The blissful couple just walked right in the special elevator. Hephaestus had yet to fix it, but the Mist still shrouded the entrance from mortals, preventing them from coming in. Of course anything else magical still could. The elevator did not take long getting to Olympus, and the pair walked out into the home of the gods.

"Guess who!" a voice said from behind Annabeth, gloved hands covering her eyes. Annabeth had known that voice since she was seven. She dreamed about that voice at least a hundred times. She even lived with that voice for half a school semester when she was thirteen. That voice belonged to her best friend, her older sister. That voice belonged to Thalia Grace.

"Thalia!" Annabeth screamed, whirling around and hugging her best friend. For some odd reason, Thalia was wearing every kind of winter clothing there was. The only thing that showed was her face and hair. From the back, she would look like a totally different person.

"Hey kiddo." Thalia replied. Annabeth rolled her eyes. Kiddo was what Thalia first called her, and what she would call Annabeth when she was lying on her deathbed. Looking at her, Annabeth realized that she should be calling _Thalia_ kiddo. Thalia was a 21-year-old in a 15-year-old's body. Annabeth was so used to Thalia being older than her.

"Hey Thalia." Percy said, awkwardly, the hunters gathering behind Thalia glaring at him as he walked up.

"Hey." she replied.

"What are you doing here?" Annabeth asked excitedly.

"Artemis wanted to see how Olympus was coming along, and I wanted to see you guys." she replied. Annabeth smiled and hugged her again. "So, will you give us a tour?" Thalia asked in response to her hug. Annabeth rolled her eyes and started showing the new Olympus to the hunters, (who absolutely loved the salad bar).

Sadie learned something new today: she didn't enjoy car rides with Carter. She found Carter to be just a tad bit annoying when he was spouting facts about the Empire State Building on their way to look for Zia there. Carter had become obsessed. (Although, Sadie had to admit, it wasn't as bad as when Liz had had that "bad boy" obsession.) "It took one year and forty-five days to build it." Carter informed Sadie and Bast. Sadie just rolled her eyes.

After an exhausting hour (at least in Sadie's opinion) of driving, the group finally got to their destination. Bast went on the lengthy line of other tourists to waiting buy tickets as Carter wandered off looking for Zia, leaving Sadie muttering, "That boy is hopeless" under her breath.

Carter scanned the lobby, looking for somebody, _anybody_, who looked anything like Zia. He found no one. He went to an out-of-the-way elevator to sulk. The elevator pinged when Carter got in. Then to his surprise, it went up, up, up until it stopped. Like Alice in Wonderland, Carter hesitantly walked out, looking around. Carter caught his breath. This mysterious place was beautiful! Magnificent temples made out of pearly white marble surrounded him. Doves and eagles soared freely; the eagles not hunting the doves, and the doves not afraid of the eagles. The place seemed to be under construction, though. Carter saw cranes and a lot of other construction machines he didn't know the names for. All of the workers seemed to have left for the day, leaving Carter alone with a tour group.

"…and here is the Zeus part. Let's move on with the tour and Thalia can join us when she's done looking around." Carter heard a bunch of "okay's" "sure's" and one "See you later, Thals". A few minutes later, Carter was sure he was alone. The entire area was silent so he assumed that this "Thalia" person must have gone back to her tour group. He walked down the path in front of him, but then stopped short. He saw a girl's back. She was staring at a statue of a big guy carrying a lightning bolt. She was covered in winter coats and facing away from Carter, so he only saw her hair. Carter didn't know if she remembered him, didn't know what she was doing here, didn't know what 123,456,789 times 5,738,254 was, but he was sure of one thing: this girl was Zia. Carter ran up and threw his arms around her.

Thalia didn't hesitate.

_ Whack!_

"Zia! What was that for?" the boy questioned, looking angry. Zia? Who the Hades was Zia? Thalia didn't know anyone named Zia, but she was tempted to punch him again. Really, if you were a boy and you gave a Hunter a hug, you shouldn't be surprised if she punched you. The only boys Thalia has ever hugged in her lifetime were Jason and Luke. Jason was her brother, and he didn't count. Besides, he was desperately in love with Piper, something Thalia despised because Piper would be a great addition to the hunters. And Thalia had hugged Luke because she was glad Luke had survived that monster, and besides, she had hugged Luke _before_ she became a hunter. Hunters didn't hug guys. End of story. But embracing a stranger? Thalia didn't think so!

Carter ached. Badly. Not just his injury to the face (that girl could really punch), but also his heart. Carter had been looking for Zia everywhere. Just when he thought he found her… _BAM!_ It wasn't her. It was some random (and immensely strong) girl.

The girl's face showed a look of disgust. Avoiding another punch (or kick, or whatever else she had up her sleeve), Carter ran. Down the path to the elevator, and then out of the elevator to the lobby. Then right into Sadie.

"There you are!" Sadie cried angrily. She was about to continue her rant about how "irresponsible" Carter was for "running off" and "what would Mom and Dad think" when she saw Carter's face. He looked pathetic, wretched, pitiful, useless, confused, and sad. Sadie knows Carter well enough to know that it was time to leave. Really, anyone with half a brain could tell it was time to go if they saw Carter's face.

Telling the story in the car was when the tears started… and continued. Then, after a little while Carter finally calmed down. Albeit slowly, but he did recover.

"It was a simple mistake." Sadie consoled her big brother, "but I wonder..." she trailed off.

"You wonder..." Carter prompted her.

"Remember what Amos said about other gods in Manhattan? Well, I wonder if it has something to do with that place the elevator took you."

Carter shrugged "Maybe, but that's an adventure for later." and with that, they arrived home.

"Why do you look like you just fought someone? There aren't any monsters on Olympus." Annabeth whispered to Thalia, not wanting to make a big scene out of it. Thalia mentally cursed (In Roman, no less. Yeah, spending time with Jason can do that to a girl.). Annabeth knew her too well.

Thalia shrugged nonchalantly, "Must be your imagination."

Annabeth didn't want to argue with her, so the conversation was dropped. After the tour, Percy, Annabeth, and Thalia went out to burgers, a promise Thalia promised them five months ago. She never told them- or anyone about that poor boy's mistake, and she never will.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Here is the second (and final) chapter of this story, to tide you guys over until the 2nd book comes out! Yay! I'm so excited! I don't own anything- not even the songs being sung. Please review! Enjoy!**

"Deep Breath, Annabeth. Now sing! Open your mouth a little wider! Good job! You fell a little flat on that one! Oh, that's better. Yeah, just like that. Ugh, why did that ugly _empousa_ have to sign me up for this! They should _not_ be guidance counselors. At least not at Walter Johnson. Or Goode. Or any school with a demigod. Okay, now stop! Time for the altos and bases to sing." These were the thoughts running through Annabeth Chase's head at her winter chorus concert as she was singing "In Noctem" from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (The movie, not the book). Annabeth had the unfortunate luck of being a second soprano- the hardest part to sing in this particular tune. It was a good song, suspenseful and moving, and Annabeth could picture it playing in the background during one of her adventures. That is, if her life was a movie or book series. Which it was not.

"Fuerte in noctem," the bases and altos were singing. This part of the song was in Latin, and from Annabeth's training at Camp Half-Blood she was pretty certain it was the exact translation of what she just sand, only, of course, in Latin. This was the time during the concert where Annabeth looked around at the audience, having nothing else better to do. To avoid embarrassment, Annabeth didn't invite anyone and made sure Percy didn't show up with some threats (and kisses for extra measure). It seemed to work very well, because Percy was nowhere in sight. What Annabeth did see surprised her more. It was Thalia! Granted, Annabeth only saw the top of her head as she was reading (or trying to read- Thalia had dyslexia like any other demigod) the program in her lap. But Annabeth knew that hair, that figure, that uglyish (but she would never admit that to Thalia) sense of style. It was defiantly Thalia. And, knowing Thalia, Annabeth would never live this down.

Annabeth was too busy groaning inwardly to notice that her cue to sing again had passed. She was rudely reminded by the bigheaded show-off first soprano, Natalie Robertson elbowing her in the gut. Annabeth tried to go right back into singer mode, but couldn't shake Thalia out of her head. During the holiday songs, ("The Twelve Days of Christmas" and "Light One Candle") the fact that someone besides her didn't celebrate these holidays, that Annabeth wasn't the only freak that believed in the Greek (and Roman) gods would not leave her mind- and messed up her mouth. Throughout "One Short Day" from Wicked Annabeth couldn't help thinking of the girls' first trip to Olympus, and Thalia's recent trip there a month ago. "Memory" from Cats was another song the chorus sang. "Memory/ All alone in the moonlight/ I can smile at the old days/ I was beautiful then/ I remember the time I knew what happiness was/ Let the memory live again" The dramatic ballad made Annabeth think of her earliest memories on the run with Thalia and Luke, and how life would never be that way again. Annabeth was stuck on "On My Own" though. She couldn't find a way to fit it to her life! It seemed so perfect right now: a dad who loves her, a best friend listening to her sing, a boyfriend with kelp for brains, and a camp to return to during the summer.

The middle of "Own My Own" from Les Miserables was when Annabeth first looked up again. Thalia was nowhere in sight! In the seat where Thalia was sitting was a pretty girl with copper skin and amber eyes with way too much eyeliner. Her glossy black hair was cut at her jaw line. This girl was wearing loose linen clothing. She looked like she was on a long, weary trek and stopped here to take a welcome break. This girl looked like the type of girl Annabeth wanted on her capture the flag team. But, the girl's features didn't look Greek. Or even American! They were slightly Arabic, kind of Egyptian.

Annabeth felt her heart sink. Thalia was her best friend and once Annabeth got over the ugh-I'm-never-going-to-live-being-in-chorus-and-Thalia-knowing-about-it-down-for-the-rest-of-my-life stage, she was very excited for Thalia to be there. A girl needs someone to squeal about her boyfriend with! And when her boyfriend is right next to her chomping on a cheeseburger, it's kind of hard to squeal about him. (Never mind that Annabeth isn't much of a squealer, and the fact that Thalia sworn off boys makes squealing kind of weird.)

"But when the night is over/ He is gone/ the river's just a river" Annabeth and her classmates sang. This was when Annabeth found meaning in this song. She still had five more songs to go. "Ugh," she thought to herself, "This is going to be a long night."

**0000000000000000**

Zia had been on the go, running from gods-know-what. She didn't really know why, but her instinct told her there was danger, and being an Egyptian magician, Zia knew to trust her instincts. She was trying to get back to the 21st Nome to see Iskandar, although some faint voice inside her told her it would be no use- that he was dead. Zia normally told that voice to shut up. Iskandar was the only family Zia had; he was like a father to her. He couldn't be dead, could he? Zia didn't want to admit it, but so far, the voice inside her had been right. It was like a big part of Zia had been asleep, but that voice wasn't. And why did the fact that whenever someone mentioned the word "cane"-such as one made of candy for the holidays, or one elderly people use to help him or her walk- two faces came up? One was a fourteen-year-old boy with dark skin, hair, and eyes. The other took longer to come up, and it wasn't as strong in her mind, but it was still there: a girl around twelve, with caramel-colored hair and blue eyes. The two people looked nothing alike, but Zia had the strange sense that they were related.

Zia had been stressing about that voice and her newfound instinct far too long. She decided she absolutely needed a break to sit and think. Zia found herself at a school, the lettering "Walter Johnson High School" in blue on the yellow doors. As Zia was about to sit down, she heard beautiful music coming from inside. It was hard to make out the exact wording but it was very touching and vigorous. Zia could picture it playing in the background of some movie about magicians or wizards. Zia couldn't help herself; she walked in.

Program in hand, Zia quietly found a seat, trying not to disturb the other parents and friends trying to enjoy the concert. Still, she received some nasty glares. Looking for the name of the song being sung, and trying to ignore the others' stares, Zia looked down at the program on her lap, reading it. Although, Zia had a strange feeling that someone was watching her.


End file.
